


Family Nightmare

by theparanoidergosphere



Series: Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-14 01:26:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4544883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theparanoidergosphere/pseuds/theparanoidergosphere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Stefan and caroline are a couple now and are sleeping together and stefan has a nightmare and caroline soothes him.<br/>Drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Nightmare

_Her eyes were glittering, pale skin glowing in the afternoon sun. All he could see of his own body was his arm, outstretched before him, gripped by her slender fingers, guiding his direction._

_She glanced back at him, heavy curls swaying with the soft summer breeze. It didn’t occur to him where she was taking him. He just stared gratefully at her beaming smile. He would follow it anywhere._

_“Just a little further.”  
_

_His gaze shifted upward. The consuming darkness of a starless night hovered above. He glanced back to Caroline, but she had vanished. The hand gripping his was far bonier, and calloused._

_“Mother?” He heard himself ask._

_“Just a little further.”  
_

_A wall of dark, faceless creatures waited ahead. Their bodies were distorted, their edges undefined; it was unclear where one began and one ended, they were rather just one clump of ghostly darkness._

_“We have to turn around. They aren’t safe, mother.”  
_

_Her grip tightened around his arm and Stefan yelled out in pain._

_“They’re my family, Stefan.”  
_

_Family. The word echoed._

_“Caroline? Mom, where’s Caroline?”  
_

_She marched steadily forward, unresponsive._

_Stefan’s head whipped frantically left and right, but the darkness closed in and she was nowhere to be found._

_Out of the blackness two identical beauties found each of his arms and linked one with their own. Pale, with dark hair and eyes that sunk into the surrounding night._

_“Elena?” Stefan asked softly, turning to the soft and silent girl to his left.  
_

_“Don’t forget the cute one,” barked the replica to her right.  
_

_“Katherine,” he mused. It occurred to him she was dead. He wondered if he was too.  
_

_“Ready for the reunion?” she quipped, a wolfish grin spreading across her dainty face.  
_

_Frightened, Stefan’s eyes found the herd of ghoulish figures, far closer than they had been seconds before. No longer did they form a steady wall ahead, but instead they circled around him, appearing out of the blackness on all sides._

_“No, NO!” he tore himself away from the grips of the three women leading him forward._

_“They’re FAMILY,” hissed Elena to his left. She pushed him forward roughly, sending him nearly toppling into one of the figures before him._

_Stefan jumped backwards in terror, straight into an identical, ghoulish figure._

_“Where’s Caroline?” he roared. “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH CAROLINE?”  
_

_He no longer could distinguish who was who as every being began to close in, pressing against him._

“CAROLINE!”

“Shhhh. I’m here, Stefan. It’s okay.” 

Sweat rained from the crown of his head, his heart beat against the walls of his chest, threatening to break free from the skin. 

The lightness of Caroline’s voice shattered the remaining vision of his dream, and he could see under him now his cool, white sheets, damp with sweat. 

His breaths were frantic and short as Caroline gently brushed back his hair with her fingers. 

“I’m here, Stefan. You’re okay. We’re okay,” she whispered her assurance once more, patiently waiting for Stefan’s breathing to steady. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered sheepishly, eternally grateful for her support but also ashamed by it.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have nothing to apologize for,” she hushed, allowing her soothing hand to come to a rest on top of his own. 

He smiled, the sensation of her soft palms atop his knuckles sending shivers up his spine.

“Do I have something to apologize for?” she asked quietly. Stefan turned to Caroline, a sad smile etched upon her lips.

“What? Of course not,” he replied.

“Did I do something bad to you? In your dream?”

“No, no… you just. Disappeared.”

“Huh. That seems more like your style.”

Stefan let out a low chuckle, which transformed into a sigh. “It was just… the heretics.”

“And I left you to fight them alone?” Caroline inquired.

“No…. it’s like you vanished just as they showed up…. I can’t quite describe –  I thought they’d swallowed you.” 

“Swallowed me?” Caroline giggled. “Well, it makes sense. It’s the only way I’d ever join that psychotic cult.” 

Stefan’s eyes remained on Caroline’s for a long moment. Slowly, he reached out his hand to push a blonde wisp behind her ear.

“I know,” he said quietly.

“I’d never leave you,” she said lowly. “You’re my family.” 

He smiled, the kind that touched the corners of his eyes. 

“I love you, did you know?”

“Enough to let me be big spoon?” 

He burst into laughter, in the way that only an unexpected quip from Caroline could ever cause. 

He bent down to place a small kiss on the top of her head.

“No, not that much,” he whispered into her hair. 


End file.
